Burglars return National Award medals to M Manikandan: ‘Your hard work is yours’

Burglars, who stole some cash, gold jewellery, and medals from the residence of National Award-winning Tamil director M Manikandan in the Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, had a change of heart. They returned only the medals with a note of apology. (Also Read: Mammootty’s character name in Bramayugam changed just before release amid controversy: Report)
They made an appearance at the house of the director in Usilampatti on Monday night and left the medals along with the handwritten note in a carry bag, at the entrance of the home; they left the place unnoticed, a senior police official said on Tuesday.
However, ₹1 lakh cash and five sovereign gold, that were stolen from Manikandan’s house on February 8, were not returned. The apology written in Tamil on a ruled scrap paper read, “Sir, forgive us, your hard work is yours.”
Police said some unidentified persons broke into Manikandan’s house, when he and his family were in Chennai, and decamped with the awards, cash and jewellery. The Usilampatti police, who registered the case, launched a hunt to trace and nab the burglars.
Manikandan shot to fame with his 2014 feature directorial debut Kaaka Muttai (The Crow’s Egg), which won the award for Best Children’s Film at the 62nd National Film Awards. He then wrote and shot the 2015 thriller, Kirumi, followed by returning to direction with the 2016 neo-noir psychological thriller Kuttrame Thandanai and the 2016 satire Aandavan Kattalai, which starred Vijay Sethupathi, Ritika Singh, Nasser, and Yogi Baby among others. His 2021 film Kadaisi Vivasayi (The Last Farmer) won the Best Feature Film award at the 69th National Film Awards.
Born in a family of police officers in Madurai, Manikandan began his career as an assistant cinematographer in Tamil films. He also did odd jobs like wedding photography and designing ID cards for school and college students prior to that. Seasoned filmmaker Vetrimaaran helped him produce his first feature.